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Leonard Nimoy

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PAD's blogs (and KRAD's) have mentioned frustrations with not being able to make pitches, not hearing back from Pocket and no contracts being offered to them. Of course, they are also being professional in not stating in print exactly what's going on.

I'd speculate that PAD probably commands a higher fee than most of the other Trek writers, due to his relatively high-profile in the comic book world, so if they're cutting costs, it stands to reason they'd be using him less.

The KRAD thing is weird - it doesn't exactly shed much light on the issue, but he had the whole thing with Starcraft: Spectres, which he finished and turned in the manuscript for, and then Pocket nixed it and handed it to another author for reasons we don't have a clue about... and I'm fairly sure the editor of the Starcraft line at the time is the same guy editing Trek now.

The KRAD thing is weird - it doesn't exactly shed much light on the issue, but he had the whole thing with Starcraft: Spectres, which he finished and turned in the manuscript for, and then Pocket nixed it and handed it to another author for reasons we don't have a clue about... and I'm fairly sure the editor of the Starcraft line at the time is the same guy editing Trek now.

I hadn't heard about the Starcraft incident before. That does seem odd. The new editor's behavior at Pocket is weird. I would think the you would at least want to say something to these writers when the do stuff like that.

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They say a little knowledge is a dangerous thing, but it is not one half so bad as a lot of ignorance. - Terry Pratchett, Equal Rites

The KRAD thing is weird - it doesn't exactly shed much light on the issue, but he had the whole thing with Starcraft: Spectres, which he finished and turned in the manuscript for, and then Pocket nixed it and handed it to another author for reasons we don't have a clue about... and I'm fairly sure the editor of the Starcraft line at the time is the same guy editing Trek now.

It may have had nothing to do with Pocket. It could just as easily have been an issue on Blizzard's end. They could have said, "Yeah, this isn't what we had in mind," and back to the drawing board Pocket went.

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"When David Marcus cited the great thinkers of history -- "Newton, Einstein, Surak" -- Newt Gingrich did not make his list." -- 24 January 2012

I'd speculate that PAD probably commands a higher fee than most of the other Trek writers, due to his relatively high-profile in the comic book world, so if they're cutting costs, it stands to reason they'd be using him less.

Yes, that became obvious when NF made the leap to its run of first-release-in-hardcover instalments (and then a NF duology in trade, when Pocket cut back on hardcovers). I recall Marco explaining that the royalty rate on hardcovers was higher (trades a little less but better than MMPB), and then the author gets a second bite of the cherry when the hardcover goes to MMPB.

It may have had nothing to do with Pocket. It could just as easily have been an issue on Blizzard's end. They could have said, "Yeah, this isn't what we had in mind," and back to the drawing board Pocket went.

While I can well imagine that's the case, it's still the sort of incident that could easily sour a relationship between writer and editor if one thought they weren't getting the support/help they needed from the other.

Probably also worth noting the book was being written during the second round of editorial upheavals at Pocket and I believe it switched editor part-way through. So many spinning plates, someone gets the wrong end of the stick somewhere, someone gets annoyed with someone else, then they easily become someone you don't really want to work with in the future. Messes happen.

I'd speculate that PAD probably commands a higher fee than most of the other Trek writers, due to his relatively high-profile in the comic book world, so if they're cutting costs, it stands to reason they'd be using him less.

I don't know if this is still the case, but back in the 90s it was PAD's success in Trek novels that was leading to a higher fee in other areas like comic books. He was far better known for his New York Times bestselling Star Trek novels than he was his work on the Incredible Hulk or X-Factor.

These days that might not be the case, but other than his work adapting the Dark Tower I can't think of any big seller he has written in quite sometime. He is popular with fans and very talented, but comics don't sell like they used to and Peter David was never quite a best seller.

If I had to guess, PAD would be more expensive because of that previous Star Trek success, much like Timothy Zahn and his Star Wars novels, if he truly does command a higher rate than someone like David Mack which I'm not sure is the case.

New Frontier is awesome but it's definitely something I can imagine sticking in the craw of those who prefer their Star Trek a little more serious. NF doesn't do serious well. The last books were incredibly dark and I dare say actually disturbing.

But yes, I love NF and wish we could have just ONNEEEEEE more book to wrap things up given everything ended on a cliffhanger.